This invention relates to a vehicle hood construction, and particularly to a method for sealing a normally--concealed edge joint on a vehicle hood. The method utilizes a hand--held implement that can be employed to lower the hood after a flowable viscous sealing material has been applied to the edge joint.
Various hand--operated implements have been devised for manipulating objects and mechanisms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,242 discloses a hand--operated implement for removing a radiator cap from the filler opening of a vehicle radiator. U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,367, issued to R. Thurston, discloses a hand--operated tool for lifting a drawbar associated with a farm tractor.
The present invention concerns a method for sealing an edge joint on a vehicle hood, wherein a hand--operated implement is used to lower the hood to a substantially closed position after a bead of viscous sealing material has been applied to the edge joint. By employing this special purpose implement the sealing material on the edge joint remains undisturbed during the hood--lowering operation. The invention is especially useful in a vehicle manufacturing environment, wherein the edge joint sealing operation is performed repetitively on multiple vehicles moving along a vehicle assembly line. Specific features of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and description of an apparatus employed in practice of the invention.